Name of Object:

Glazed bowl

Location:

Mértola, Beja, Portugal

Holding Museum:

Museum of Mértola

About Museum of Mértola, Mértola.

Date of Object:

Hegira 339–90 / AD 950–1000

Museum Inventory Number:

CR/VM/0002

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Glazed ceramic made with compact pink paste, modelled on a wheel, fired in an oxidising atmosphere and decorated in green and purple.

Dimensions:

Height 6 cm, maximum diameter 29 cm, diameter (of base) 17 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Umayyad al-Andalus / caliphate period

Provenance:

Probably Córdoba (Spain).

Description:

Glazed bowl with rounded everted rim, circular mouth, semi-oval body and flat base. The object has an exterior finish in honey-coloured monochrome glaze, and a polychrome glaze of white, green and purple in the interior, representing a plant motif consisting of a radial composition of eight lotus flowers topped by another set of eight oval lotus flowers. On the rim is a composition in four parts with alternating semi-circles and phytomorphic motifs. It has a defect at the bottom caused by the glaze coming into contact with another object in the kiln. The object has been restored.

View Short Description

Glazed bowl with a plant motif consisting of a radial composition of eight triangular lotus flowers each topped with an oval lotus flower. This piece is similar to others found in Madinat al-Zahra and probably came from the Córdoba region.

How date and origin were established:

The stratigraphic context in which the object was found was very disordered, which led to its being dated to the second half of the 4th / 10th century, by comparison with objects of identical form found in Madinat al-Zahra (Córdoba, Spain).

How Object was obtained:

Found in the archaeological excavations carried out by the Campo Arqueológico de Mértola in the citadel of the Castle of Mértola.

How provenance was established:

The shape, ornamental theme and type of paste used are very similar to ceramics from the Córdoba area.

Selected bibliography:

Gómez Martínez, S., “Catálogo da Cerâmica”, in Museu de Mértola. Arte Islâmica, ed. S. Macias, Mértola, 2001, p.111.
Gómez Martínez, S., “La Cerámica de Verde y Morado de Mértola”, Arqueologia Medieval, no. 3, 1994, p.125.
Torres, C. and Gómez, S., “Le Vert et Brun au Portugal”, in Le Vert et le Brun de Kairouan à Avignon: Céramiques du Xe au XVe Siècle,exhibition catalogue, Marseilles, 1995, pp.98–102.
Torres, C. and Macias, S. (eds.), O Portugal Islâmico, Lisbon, 1998, p.97.

Citation of this web page:

Susana Gómez Martínez "Glazed bowl" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;pt;Mus01;8;en

Prepared by: Susana Gómez MartínezSusana Gómez Martínez

Susana Gómez Martínez é historiadora e arqueóloga especializada no período medieval. Estudou Geografia e História na Universidade Complutense de Madrid onde se doutorou em Historia com uma tese intitulada “Cerámica islámica de Mértola. Producción y comercio” (no prelo). É investigadora do Campo Arqueológico de Mértola desde 1993. Autora de várias publicações, de entre as quais se destacam “Cerâmica em Corda Seca de Mértola” (Mértola, Campo Arqueológico de Mértola, 2002); Cerámica Islámica de Medinaceli, in "Boletín de Arqueología Medieval", n.º 9, pp. 123-182, Madrid, Asociación Española de Arqueología Medieval, 1996). É membro do comité científico do Itinerário/exposição “Terras da Moura Encantada” (Lisboa, PICT e Museu sem Fronteiras, 1999) e do Comité Científico da Association International pour l'étude de la Céramique Médiévale en Méditerranée (AIECM2).

Translation by: Gilla Evans
Translation copyedited by: Monica Allen

MWNF Working Number: PT 11

RELATED CONTENT

Related monuments

 Artistic Introduction

 Timeline for this item

Islamic Dynasties / Period

Umayyads of al-Andalus


On display in


Download

As PDF (including images) As Word (text only)